I always hate hearing stories like these, especially as an APBT owner, breeder, and enthusiast. They never make much sense to me either. The APBT was bred for well over 100 years, to specifically not have human aggression. They were fighting dogs, trained for pit fighting, for gambling men. When bull baiting was outlawed. If a dog EVER showed aggression toward a handler, referee, or any human, they were immediately culled, and the genes were not allowed to pass on. There is a reason they were once known as "the nanny dog". Back then, an owner could fight them, or work them for hunting, and what not, and bring them home, and they would watch the children. I can only think of two ways something like this could happen. A: the dog, comes from a thoroughly gamebred line still to this day, and not in the traditional sense as a multipurpose dog, with non human aggression. Some people have been selectively breeding them for a while now for human aggression, it could be bred in. A dog like that, with such a high prey drive, needs very attentive rearing to be around people at all. Even from pup, its simply in their genotype now. Something like that has to be bred back out. B: Lack of proper raising. Pits arent for everybody. People get them because they like the way they look, or everyone is doing it(trendy) a lot. They fail to realize, they are not considered a "bully breed" for nothing. Theyre not poodles. The are much like wolves in the sense of the way they pack up, in an alpha male type dog society so to speak. They end up with a dog that bullies them, and does what it wants. You have to be extremely stern with them when they are pups. They must realize you are the alpha, and nothing is carried out without your command, and approval. What Im about to say will sound mean to some people. A pit bull needs a good azz whooping from its owner a few times in its life. They call them bullies, because they will bully you, and test your limits. Dogs establish an alpha by fighting. Some people cant handle this, and yes theyre other ways of dealing with it, but not usually as effective(especially with pits). Dont take this as I beat my dogs, cause I dont. Ive never hurt my dogs, but a good spanking gets ther attention, and is what they respond to best really, when theyre young. It doesnt hurt anything but their ego, really. I havent had to spank theyre butts, since they were under a year old.(theyre going on 5 now) You have to think like them. In their world, the alpha is the king, if you dont establish this when theyre young, things like this happen. Fighting is what they know. They will actually love you, and respect you forever, the more disciplined you are with them. Not everyone can deal with being that disciplined. A pit that doesnt know that alpha will whoop its butt if it gets out of line, is a dangerous thing(as is with MOST big dogs really IMO). Me and my dogs have an understanding, you dont hurt kids, or people at all(of course if my ol lady is getting mugged or something thats different), and I dont have to put you down.
A true pitbull, can be in full attack mode with another dog, and when the owner/handler gives the command, it will stop what its doing immediately. Kinda like a prize fighter in the ring, and the ref tells him to go to his corner. I am totally against dog fighting. But its very important to know where the breed came from, and therefore how it thinks.
This story is just tragic. Its hard to say why it happened, but Im getting the feeling this dog thought it was the alpha. That upbringing, combined with a recent(illegal) game bred program in its line, is not good. The trend these days for the gamebred dogs, is all game, no nanny more, and more. Which is why the breed really isnt what it used to be, but thats another story really. The more gamebred, the more discipline and attention they need. Not all game bred dogs, are bred for pit fighting tho, some are still used for hunting, and working these days. They love to hunt wild hogs. The red pits tend to be more gamie too. I noticed this dog was a red. (I wonder how old it was) They came from a line that was brought from Ireland, called old family red nose mostly. OFRN were very, very game bred. Its usually the owners fault, but the dog pays for it. Just tragic all around. Shame. Im so fed up with the people around pit bulls, my next foundation stock will be Leavitt bulldogs. I have no interest in personally continuing the breed any more. Still love the hell out of em tho. Theyre just so poorly bred nowadays, perfect stock is near impossible to find. Such a shame, for a once iconic american dog. People suck!
